Haunting pasts
by rivendellelve
Summary: When Anko and Kakashi are together on a mission they have to face their pasts before they can start into a new future...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi!

So here's my first angst-ff. I hope I can make it angsty enough… If I really write everything I've planned in my storyline by now I somehow feel sorry for Anko and Kakashi.

Disclaimer: not mine

Haunting pasts 

Chapter one

Anko slumped down on her bed. The last mission had been really tough and right now all that she cared about was to finally be able to sleep. The moment she closed her eyes she was fast asleep. She found herself within her dream inside a forest. It seemed familiar to her she just couldn't remember why. Shrugging inwardly she went on looking around and forgetting completely that she was only dreaming. Suddenly the scenery changed: All went dark and the once beautiful forest turned into a dark, rotten cave illuminated in a pale green light. Everywhere around her there were rotten, dead-looking snakes hissing angrily. Then behind her a shadow arose from the surrounding shadows taking in the form of the snake-man who now spun her around, took her by her neck and lifted her. He smirked…

Anko shot her eyes wide open and sat up breathing heavily. She was beaded in sweat and the cursed seal she had gotten from Orochimaru badly hurt. Though she wondered why. Maybe it was just because of the lack of sleep she had lately. She laid back and pulled the pillow over her head trying to ignore the dull pain coming form her juin. She wanted to sleep so badly. Just sleeping, not even dreaming. But unfortunately it wasn't that easy. Images from her nightmare kept sneaking into her mind again and again. The more she tried to forget them the more of them came back. So that she spent the rest of her night tossing and turning fitfully in her bed at maximum half asleep.

No wonder that she still felt dreadful tired when she got up the next morning. She thought of drinking coffee so that she wouldn't fall asleep during the day but decided against it. This stuff was just too bitter for her liking. Why couldn't anyone invent a coffee that tasted sweet? Another day after another night she would've went to the dumpling store to get something for breakfast but she didn't really felt hungry so she just went on a little walk.

She sighed looking at the gray sky. It would be raining soon. She wondered why her seal had started hurting again after all the time. On cue it started hurting again. "Fuck!" Anko cursed gritting her teeth. Closing her eyes she calmly counted back from ten. Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one… the pain was gone. This was the only thing she could do when it was hurting. Sometimes it worked. But she never did it if someone was around. She didn't like to have her eyes closed in the presence of another person. As long as she was able to control the pain, hide it, it was all right. No one needed to know how she felt. Looking up to the gray sky once more she saw a bird. Sighing she made her way to the Godaime's office.

xxx

The copy-ninja was standing at the memorial stone where so many names of shinobi who died during a mission were engraved. He read there the name of his best friend. Yes, he was only there because of his best friend. Obito died under his leadership. If he – Kakashi - had been a better leader this would never have happened. He remembered that they never had gotten along with each other. They had been always fighting back then yet they still had been best friends though neither of them had realized it until it had been too late. If he had been stronger his friend maybe would never had died. Above him a bird flew in circles trying to tell him that he should go to Godaime's office, immediately. He ignored it.

It started raining – first there were only a few drops but soon it was pouring. Again Kakashi read the name. 'Uchiha Obito'. His friend had been one of the famous Uchiha-clan. Now Kakashi possessed what the clan had been proud of: the Sharingan. He was even known as the 'copy-ninja'. A bitter smile appeared on his masked face as he clenched his fists so hard that blood came out where the fingernails dug into the flesh. He was only known as the 'copy-ninja' because he had Obito's Sharingan, only because he died there. He really wished that he could give back the Sharingan along with his 'title' but there was no way that it could bring Obito back to life. The bird screamed. Its scream was so shrill it cut Kakashi's thoughts off and made the jounin look up again. Knowing that it wouldn't give up he turned heading for Godaime's office. While walking he smelled blood and noticed that he was the one bleeding. Just put his gloves on so that no one could see it.

Xxx

Tsunade was sitting in her chair inside her office with plenty of paperwork on her desk. In front of it Anko was waiting for the always-late jounin also known as Hatake Kakashi. Tsunade sighed inwardly thinking that next time she should call Kakashi one hour before his teammates. Outside it was pouring. The fifth Hokage looked back at Anko and also noted that she should let Anko stay a night or two at the Konoha-hospital after this mission. She was much too pale and, completely unlike she used to be usually, quiet. Maybe she should ask Kurenai whether she had noticed something or whether Anko had mentioned something. It was quite useless to ask Anko. She would even say that she was absolutely alright if there was a gaping wound in her stomach. She was definitely too stubborn. Anko yawned as she looked out of the window.

Then there was a knock on the door and Kakashi stepped inside. He must have been outside in the rain for quite a while because he was soaking wet.

"Kakashi, you're late." Tsunade stated looking at him.

"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life." He apologized smiling but shifted uncomfortable under the sharp gaze of the Hokage. Tsunade knew there was more to it but she didn't ask. She didn't have the time to ask or to say it more precisely to wait for an answer. If Kakashi had decided to keep something secret it would need an interrogation-specialist and at least a half day before she got a precise answer – and she was the Hokage. Anko and Kakashi were both far too stubborn in their own ways. So she let it be and just told them their mission.

"Listen up you two!" Both jounins looked at her. "The Grass Country's feudal lord asked us to assassinate a criminal who committed a massacre three days ago. We've gathered some information and it appears that he is most likely Warui Akuma, a missing Iwa-nin." She held up a photograph. It showed a huge, red-haired man with scars all over his body and he looked like one (or more) of his relatives was a gorilla. The copy-ninja took it. "I want you two to leave immediately for Grass Country and to take care of that guy. But don't forget this is a S-class-mission so be careful." Both jounins nodded before they disappeared. Godaime sighed. She wondered whether she should send another jounin after them. Maybe a medic-nin like Shizune. But Anko and Kakashi were experienced shinobi and could look after themselves; it was just that she had a bad feeling about this mission. Sighing again she concentrated on her still unfinished paperwork. God, she hated paperwork.

Xxx

Anko was waiting at the west gate of Konohagakure in the pouring rain. She didn't care to look for any shelter because she was already soaking wet anyway. She liked it when it was raining. She used to take little walks in the rain. Then it was so calm outside and the streets were empty. That's maybe because she liked it. She was known as loud, insensitive and short-tempered but only a few knew how she really felt. Coming to think about it she figured that in fact no one knew. Not even Kurenai although she was supposed to be her best friend. But she didn't blame Kurenai for it. She always tried to understand Anko but her friend just didn't let her. It started raining harder.

Her thoughts drifted back to her never punctual teammate. She often saw him on her little walks on these rainy days. He was always standing at the memorial stone seemingly lost in his thoughts. Sometimes she stopped there and watched him for a while from the distance. This way it was still as calm as always but for some reason she didn't feel left all alone although she didn't know why. Just then her silver-haired appeared next to her and without a word they left. Since they wanted to arrive in Grass Country the next day and the ground was muddy, which would slow them down, they leaped from tree to tree. Because of the rain the branches were wet and slippery so that they had to be extremely careful otherwise the mission could end before it started.

Xxx

After the two leaf-nins had traveled the whole day they sat up a camp for the night. The rain had stopped a while ago for which Anko was grateful. It wasn't fun to sleep outside in the rain. And now sitting under a big tree with a little fire between them they ate in silence. There was nothing to talk about and Anko didn't feel like talking anyway. So Anko stared into the fire letting her thoughts drift away. Before she even noticed her thoughts came back to the dream, no nightmare, she had had the last night and her seal immediately reacted with a throbbing pain shooting through her body. Kakashi looked up. Almost out of reflex her body stiffened and her face became emotionless. Se was determined to hide her from Kakashi and from the rest of the world. But it wasn't that easy to fool a jounin. "Are you alright?" He asked. She used a fake-smile. "Yeah, yeah; I'm okay. But I guess I'm going to sleep now." Kakashi didn't say anything but he seemingly didn't believe her. For now they both went to bed, maybe he would come back on this later.

TBC

A/N: So the first chappy is done:D Please click the tiny button to the left and leave me a tiny review if you don't mind. **lol**

See ya

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hi!

I honestly don't know what I was thinking starting an angst-ff. It's pretty troublesome and I even don't know whether I can make it angsty enough… mendokuse. If you have any ideas how to make it angsty just tell me, maybe it will help. But enough of that; here's the second chappy.

Chapter two

It was a large forest there. And she was somewhere in the middle. Anko didn't know why she was there but she felt that what she had originally planned to do was important, maybe even more important than her life – though this didn't mean much. But nevertheless for some reason she still couldn't what it was. Why was she here alone in the middle of a dark, big forest? She only knew two disturbing things: her heart was pounding like mad and the cursed seal was throbbing again. Her instinct, or was it her subconscious, told her to go north and her body obeyed though she wondered how she could find her way through. Because the moon wasn't even half and clouds were covering most of the sky it was unnatural dark around her. Maybe she wasn't seeing but feeling her surroundings. It was strange. She knew something was completely wrong with… with everything but what it exactly was she didn't know. She reached a familiar place. Wait 'familiar'? Yes it was familiar but why? Everything around her seemed so blurred. Only her subconscious knew the meaning of this but it made her tremble – in fear? What was it she was afraid of?

The answer immediately came in form of an agonizing pain coming from her juin. "Argh!" She couldn't suppress the sudden outcry. Why did she have to ask she thought angrily. Anko held the juin with one hand but that didn't ease the pain. It even intensified when her former sensei appeared in front of her. When the sannin stepped closer smirking her legs couldn't bear the weight of her body anymore so that she fell down on her knees. "Get lost!" She shouted trying to sound brave but it only made him smirk wider. She was completely forlorn and they both knew it. She hated herself for that. Hated herself for being paralyzed because of this little pain, hated herself for being helpless again. After he had cast her off like trash she had sworn never to be like this again, never to be at someone's mercy again. Yet she was. Anko desperately tried to get up, tried to force her legs to move but she lost the control over her body. The sannin stopped in front of her, still smirking, and touched her cheek as he asked if she was jealous.

Xxx

Kakashi woke up from a soft moan coming from the left side. Since Anko had her back to him it took him a moment before he realized that it had been from her. He sat up and inched closer to see if she was alright. He didn't liked what he was seeing: her body was bent as if she was in pain and sweat was covering her skin plus she was again paler than she usually was. He called her name… No reaction. He called her name again louder this time. But still she didn't really react. She only shifted her position so that she was now lying on her back. Not one sound escaped her mouth but Kakashi could see, knew, that she was screaming inwardly. She was obviously just having a nightmare but even so Kakashi couldn't help feeling worried. More out of habit he felt her pulse. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed that it was far too high, even if she was having a nightmare. He had to wake her immediately. Whatever she was dreaming it was affecting her physically and he didn't want to find out how much stress her body could endure. He shook Anko carefully, calling her again. This time she turned her head away but he didn't let her. Gently he touched her cheek and made her turn back and calling her again.

Xxx

Orochimaru was in front of her smirking as he called her name. Wait, something was wrong with his voice. Anko blinked. What was going on? The face of the man in front of her changed. When her confused mind found the way back to reality she found herself lying on the ground with her silver-haired teammate next to her looking somewhat worried. Realizing that she was shaking she told her body to stop it. Of course without any effect. But after she took a deep breathe it stopped. Then she sat up. (Kakashi had taken his hand away before she had the chance to notice.) "I hope I didn't wake you from a good dream." The copy-ninja joked. Anko only smiled back weakly. She should really stop dreaming stuff like that – it was too exhausting. Just when she was about to sigh relieved that it was over her seal suddenly started throbbing again. It made her flinch. But still she just clenched her sleeping back staring stubbornly down at her hands. Once she had decided to hide her pain from someone (almost everyone) she would hide it up to the point where it was no longer possible. Too bad there was this experienced jounin around…

"Does your juin hurt again?" He asked laying on hand on hers.

She pulled it away. "No it's nothing." She lied.

He sighed before he asked with a sad smile on his face. "We're in the same team Anko, do you really need to hide your pain from me?" She just lay down without saying another word and turned her back to Kakashi.

Xxx

Again the jounin sighed as he lay down, too. She was really too stubborn, not once telling the truth about how she was feeling – though in that point he wasn't better. This remembered him of something. In a time before he had gotten his, no Obito's Sharingan they (he, Rin and Obito) had been on a mission and it hadn't went all too smoothly. In fact he and Obito had been gravely injured but neither of them had admitted. Soon they had argued.

'I'm fine but you're too badly wounded to continue with this mission!' Kakashi had shouted.

'Don't make me laugh! You're the one bleeding while I'm not injured at all!' Obito had snapped back.

This had been the time when Rin had given them a wise advice. 'Kakashi, Obito, please calm down.' She had said her hands raised calming. 'We're in the same team you know, so it's not only stupid but dangerous if we don't know the real condition of our teammates.' It had been a wise advice indeed. But the two of them had been too stubborn to listen. So only a brief moment later they had argued again.

Now Kakashi regretted that he hadn't been listening. If he had listened to his comrades more often they maybe would still be here. They say you never know how precious something is until you've lost it. It was true. He never had noticed that he had had a best friend until he had lost him. He shook his head trying to get rid of these thoughts. There was no use in thinking about the past. They were dead and thinking about it wouldn't change the situation no matter how much he wished. The only thing that he could do was live with it or die. And he had no intention of dieing although it would make things easier. Again the copy-ninja shook his head. Why was he even bothering? The only thing that should now matter was the present, the mission, and not the past. The mission was the only thing that mattered! Angrily he stood up and jumped at a nearby tree. He hated himself for even thinking this. Why couldn't he just stop thinking and sleep. Without dreaming or thinking or remembering… He decided that he maybe should just count the stars. Or let Obito see them. So he uncovered his Sharingan. He stayed up there until he had calmed down a little and was able to find some rest.

Xxx

After Kakashi had fallen asleep Anko turned on her back. In opposite to Kakashi she wasn't lightly sleeping – she wasn't sleeping at all. Too high was the risk of having another one of those nightmares. She knew she possibly couldn't stay awake forever but had enough time to worry about it later. Maybe after this mission. She also knew that she was acting extremely childish – not wanting to sleep because she's afraid of having nightmares just like children are afraid of the monster under the bed. That was obvious. But such a nightmare left her weak and vulnerable and even if it was her teammate she didn't want anybody to see her like that. She looked up to the stars. The clouds from earlier were gone and now the sky was clear. She remembered that Kakashi had watched the stars too. At least she wasn't the only one who had a problem with falling asleep. She wondered why she hadn't joined him. Just watching him from the corner of the eye and pretending to be asleep hadn't been interesting. There had always been this ravine between them. Not wide, just deep. But that was enough. Neither of them dared to jump over it because what if they would fall? It was definitely safer if they kept the distance between them. Anko sighed frustrated and searched in her bag for something that she could read so that she hadn't to think anymore. This was going to be a damn long night…

TBC

A/N: So chapter two is done… **sigh** how troublesome

So now that I've finished another chappy please review. :D

Reviews are the only reason why I'm not too lazy to update **eg**

Thanks to ANBUKakashi, Endless Snow, fire.elve, DancingPickle101, Arezal, Utter-Insanity, sehellys and thunder-sister for reviewing.

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hi!

So here we go again!

Chapter three

In the next morning Kakashi awoke from the sound of rustling clothes. Lazily he opened one eye and saw that Anko was making breakfast. It was nothing special what they had. Only rice balls, dried fruits and some plants that were growing in this area. But they were on a mission after all so it wasn't anything to complain about. He just got up when Anko was finished with the preparations. They both sat down and started eating. Anko wore her usual smile and acted just like she used to. She definitely had improved but it still wasn't enough to fool Kakashi: he still noticed that she was tired. Although he had no idea of how tired she in fact really was. Anyway, for the mission it was important that she was fully awake so he thought of a good way to wake her up. Suddenly he remembered that he still had some of those pills in his pocket. It was double effective as coffee but it also was double bitter. This would surely be a clear disadvantage if he would simply ask her to eat it. But then smirking under his mask he looked up to the sky. Gray clouds were coming from the west. "Looks like there will be more rain today." He said innocent. Now Anko looked up to the sky, too. This was just how Kakashi had planned it. He used the time while she wasn't looking to hide one pill inside her rice ball. Then he simply waited for her to eat it. And she grimaced afterwards. She definitely seemed to prefer sweets but so she wouldn't feel tired anymore soon. After breakfast they left for Grass Country.

Xxx

They arrived in Grass Country around midday where they would meet the Feudal Lord inside his castle. Now they were sitting in a not small but also not big room waiting for him. Although they had to wait quite a while Anko and Kakashi didn't talk nor did they do anything else to entertain themselves (or each other). It might've looked professional but it was plain boring. Kakashi thought about how to kill some time. He possibly couldn't use a kunai for that so what was he going to do? Reading 'Icha Icha Paradise' seemed not to be a good idea… Anko seemed equally bored plus she hadn't a mask to hide it. He could start conservation but about what could they talk? He had no idea. Well, ninjas were used to endure many things so they wouldn't die from boredom.

Finally the Feudal Lord came in. The two shinobi bowed their heads as he sat down opposite to them.

"So you are the leaf-nins." He stated. Both nodded.

"I'm Hatake Kakashi and this is Mitarashi Anko. Shinkoku-sama, we were told that Warui Akuma a massacre and we would like to start our pursuit from there."

The Feudal Lord nodded. "I've expected something like that… Shiyo!" A servant entered the room.

"Yes Shinkoku-sama?"

"Take them to Sonraku."

"Yes my lord." He bowed and went outside with the two shinobi.

Xxx

They came to a place that looked very much like the leftovers from a village that had been destroyed by a mudslide not long ago but this hadn't been caused by mother nature it was the deed of the Iwa-nin. Even though Anko had not such an excellent nose like Kakashi she could easily smell the blood of the victims. The scent was all over the place. The whole place must've been soaked with blood she thought. And she had the feeling that it was still wet, but maybe it was just her imagination. Much to her relief the corpses had been brought away, most likely already buried. She didn't know how many massacres she could still witness before it would drive her insane. Anko wondered why one would kill so many innocent people. What was it good for? Then again maybe he was one of those who didn't value (human) life just like… her former sensei, she thought bitterly as she stared at the ground. There were far too many of those. In the dirt there was a little doll lying, also drenched in blood. Anko immediately looked away and focused her attention on her silver-haired teammate trying not to think to whom this doll had belonged.

Kakashi knelt down and started reconstructing the fight. Obviously the last attack had been a doton, which came from the right side. It wasn't quite easy because many people had been there afterwards but nevertheless he found the place where the attack had came from. There he summoned Pakkun. The dog looked around curious.

"Pakkun I need you to follow the scent of who had been standing here." The copy-ninja said pointing at the ground.

Pakkun started sniffing. "What an easy thing to do. Many had been standing here but I guess you're looking for the one who left the village, don't you?" He asked and Kakashi nodded. Then without wasting more time the two jounins and the pug started running although they couldn't run that fast because they had still to follow the tracks of Akuma and with that Pakkun's nose. They were lucky that the rain from Konoha hadn't arrived yet but the clouds were already dark gray so it was only a matter of time. Kakashi just hoped that it wouldn't come too soon because if it rained they wouldn't be able to follow Akuma's scent anymore.

Xxx

Of course his hopes would never come true. _Soon it started raining_. And with every drop that fell Pakkun found it harder to follow his Akuma's scent. Kakashi could see that the dog tried his best to keep the track but in the end he lost it. It wasn't Pakkun's fault; it was because of the rain. Somehow Kakashi had expected something like this. In the end it always turned out this way if he dared to hope. That's exactly why he had given up his hopes for the future. Now all they could do was to think of another way of finding Akuma. He turned to Anko.

"I guess we should go, look for shelter before we catch a cold in this rain." He suggested but Anko didn't move. She just stared eastwards with an expression on her face as if she was trying to recall something. "Anko? This isn't the right time for daydreaming, we should hurry up and go!"

"Something is there I – I feel it." She muttered right before she winced and held her neck. Then she stubbornly glared at him straightening herself. "We have to go there!" Sighing Kakashi gave in. It wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway and maybe Anko was more blessed with luck than he was. But then again they were both quite unlucky.

Xxx

Anko led them towards an area that was near the border of Iwa. They were still in Grass Country although it didn't look like it. The area was mostly plain wasteland. Anko didn't know why she had wanted to come here but something inside her seemed to remember that place. It was quite frustrating: You feel that you something but you can't remember no matter how hard you try. But she was used to it. Just as she was used to endure the juin which was throbbing again. It was really an annoying seal, once it had stopped throbbing you never knew when it would start again. The last time the pain really had been overwhelming and she couldn't help but wince in front of Kakashi's eyes but fortunately it soon had lessened so that it was only a dull pain now, which she could almost ignore.

It stopped raining. Pakkun who still was with them suddenly started frantically sniffing in the air. "He's here!" The dog shouted running to the right. The two jounins followed him until he suddenly stopped in front of a hidden cave. "Is he in there?" Kakashi asked. The dog nodded. Anko looked inside, it was just like a cave should be: dark. It wasn't like she'd expected something else like a signpost saying 'Warui Akuma's hideout' but nevertheless there was definitely something wrong with that cave. Her instincts screamed to her not go inside it. It just would've been too nice if she knew the reason.

"Out of all places this guy has to hide inside this dark, creepy hole." She growled frustrated.

"Scared?" Her silver-haired teammate asked with the hint of a smirk.

"Of course no!"

Pakkun interfered. "I suppose you guys won't need me there, so see ya." With that he disappeared.

"Then shall we?" Kakashi asked as he lit a torch. Anko nodded.

TBC

A/N: O well another chappy is done. So after this is done I can start with the interesting part (**evil evil grin**).

Please leave a review if you don't mind. They always make me write faster.

Thanks to hikage shinobi, Akanan, DancingPickle101, American-Idiot14, fire.elve and Arezal for reviewing.

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hi!

I'm already back with the next chappy so enjoy it:D

Chapter four

They both went inside the cave. Even from where they were it looked, as it would be quite big. A place perfect for getting lost or maybe dieing. Anko shivered though she didn't know whether it was because of that thought or only because it was so damn cold there. And as if this wasn't enough her seal had been throbbing for the whole time but ever since she had entered the cave the pain slightly increased with every step she took. But even so they went deeper and deeper down into the darkness. Their torch was barely enough to illuminate their path. Maybe this had been the reason why Pakkun hadn't came here first place. Thinking of that dog Anko noticed that Kakashi ad stopped and was now sniffing in the air. But before Anko could ask him what exactly he was doing he handed her the torch and started searching on left wall for something saying "A strong chemical smell is coming from here. It looks like here could be some kind of a hidden entrance." He found a suspicious groove and started hitting it with a kunai. Suddenly there was a click and a part of the wall right in front of the two jounins. They had just opened the door to another secret part of the cave. Kakashi stopped in the doorframe so that Anko couldn't see what was ahead.

"Kakashi, why do you suddenly stop? Don't you want to go inside? Or have you forgotten that we still have to find Akuma?" She asked impatiently.

"No not at all, it's just that there's something – er – you'd better not see."

Anko ignored him and slipped into the room. Maybe a mistake. Anko's eyes widened in utter horror at the sight in front of her. The room was filled with aquariums and preservation-jars. The aquariums were still illuminated with a pale green light. Of course nobody would be afraid of aquariums and Anko wasn't either. What shocked her were the - the things inside the aquariums and jars: they were filled with dead bodies of humans and animals and something she couldn't tell what it was. But that was only half of it. Anko felt like she had to throw up, her stomach seemed to be spinning; the most disturbing thing was that she knew that place! Knew it from her time as Orochimaru's subordinate. Her seal immediately reacted with new pain. Searching for support she leaned against the wall.

"Anko, are you okay?" Kakashi asked sounding somehow worried.

"Yeah, yeah. It's nothing." She lied. "Let's get moving!" With that she moved away from the wall and went ahead. Behind her Kakashi sighed audibly. From where they were now a tunnel was leading deeper down into the cave. And they followed that tunnel. Anko just wondered whether her seal was hurting because of the place or because Orochimaru was near. She just hoped he wasn't.

xxx

Deeper down in the cave there was a large hall with many big rocks lying around lit only by a few torches. There weren't enough of them to light up the room but enough to make the shadows look darker. The lit torches meant that someone was here. But even without the torches their instincts had already told them that they weren't alone. Now they had just to find out where he was hiding.

Anko had an idea. "Kakashi, you have a nose almost as good as a dog's one, can you smell him?"

The copy-ninja shook his head. "No, the chemical smell is too strong I can't even smell you when you're standing next to me." The moment Anko opened her mouth to make another suggestion a tall figure appeared at the other end of the hall. A figure that looked suspiciously like Akuma.

"My, my. I didn't expect visitors down here." Akuma said with a fake-smile.

Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan. "I'm sorry but your life is going to end here, Akuma." The ninja with the mismatched eyes said calmly.

"Don't you mean your lives are going to end here!" He gave back in a dangerous low voice. Without a warning he performed seals, making stone –kunais fly towards them. Immediately Anko jumped behind one of the rocks. Kakashi meanwhile had copied the jutsu so that stone-kunai hit stone-kunai and they fell useless to the ground. From behind the rock Anko performed the gokakyu-no-jutsu and a giant fireball flew towards the Iwa. He dodged it using a doton and disappearing into the ground. When he came out again Kakashi threw kunais at him but Akuma dodged them and performed a jutsu that created a dust-cloud over the battlefield. Anko although being outside the dust-cloud saw neither Kakashi nor Akuma.

Then when the dust-cloud slowly disappeared she saw Kakashi again but heard at the same time something from above and looked up. What she saw made her heart skip a beat: two Iwa-nins were hiding up there and they had performed a jutsu that suddenly made rocks fell from the ceiling and they were aiming for Kakashi who still had no idea of the danger he was in because of the dust. It took Anko only a split of a second to realize it and she saw only one way to save him. She ran towards the copy-ninja, pushed him out of the way and performed with a speed only a jounin could have a replacement-technique so that she wouldn't be crushed to death by the stones but even so one hit her really hard in the right side.

She fell down on the ground and stayed there. She couldn't breathe at all. Unable to breathe panic rose in her chest though it was quite useless. She counted to ten as calmly as she could in such a situation and was finally able to take in at least a bit air. Her whole body felt numb but judging from her difficulties to breathe the stone must have broken one or more of her ribs. A comforting darkness wrapped itself around her telling her to sleep a simply little. She wanted to sleep so badly, wanted to forget about all the pain and sorrows but another part of her consciousness reminded her that she still had a mission to complete and she couldn't just leave it all to Kakashi. Shaking the numbing darkness off she became more aware of her surroundings. They were surrounded by three Iwa-nins. Kakashi held her in his arms.

One of the Iwa-nins, the oldest, spoke. "You're the White Fang!"

The other interfered. "It can't be, I heard he died quite a while ago!"

"But he looks like him." While the two were arguing Kakashi used the opportunity, lit a smoke bomb and with the enemies surprised he ran off carrying the wounded Anko. Once they were outside the numbness left her body but was replaced with pain. That much pain within only a few hours was too much for Anko to bear and she passed out. Before fainting the last thing she wondered about was why the one Iwa had called Kakashi 'The White Fang'.

Xxx

Anko found herself lying inside a big dark room. Staring at her tiny hands she noticed that she was almost two decades back in time, when she still was a little child in both body and heart. It was typical for shinobi that they stopped being children in their hearts when they still looked like they were. However at least this time she knew that she was only dreaming. And this dark room was her room. Somehow she felt thirsty out of the sudden and since she had nothing to drink inside her room she went outside to look for something. Anko silently climbed out of the bed and tiptoed to the door where she had almost to jump in order to open it. Then she sneaked down the floor. When she passed an open door through which light came out of the room a voice caught her attention. Silently she stopped eavesdropping to the conservation. This wasn't just a mere dream it was a memory. One voice belonged to Orochimaru. The other man she didn't know. Maybe if she saw his face she could remember… Carefully, really carefully she peeked around the corner but still she couldn't see anybody. Orochimaru spoke. "I see, so the White Fang committed suicide. The people of Konoha are really a nice family – practically forcing their own comrades to commit suicide." The two men started laughing. The way they were laughing was disturbing, it wasn't like someone would laugh when something had happened, it was just plain terrifying. Trembling a little Anko sneaked back to her room hoping that she hadn't been noticed. For the rest of the night she held her pillow over her ears trying to forget about what had happened.

TBC

A/N: So another chappy is done. Please leave a review if you don't mind:D

Thanks to ZoieLark, DancingPickle101, Akanan, sehellys and Utter-Insanity for reviewing.

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hi!

I'm back! And I'm sorry for the cliffhangers – it's not like I'm planning them but they're just somehow always there if I want to finish a chappy. Sorry, I'm not doing it because I want to annoy you. :D

Chapter five

Kakashi leaped from tree to tree carrying the unconscious Anko in his arms. She was much lighter than he had expected. Indeed, in his eyes she was almost too light; but maybe he was just overreacting. It's been a while since he had carried someone. After he had kept running for a while and the distance between them and the cave was big enough he finally stopped and carefully laid Anko down. She was still unconscious. But so he could check her injuries without her insisting that she all right. Gently he touched the side where the stone had hit her and his heart nearly stopped. Where his hand should've met the resistance of ribs there was barely one. And it felt wet. A certain red liquid, also known as blood, was slowly soaking her coat. Without thinking much he took the coat off and examined her wounds. Not only had the stone broken her ribs it had also left an ugly gash in her side. Not wanting her to lose more blood he quickly and at the same time carefully first cleaned the wound and then bandaged it up. With that done he laid Anko on her right side so that she hopefully could breathe easier.

Now he could just wait and hope that she would wake up soon and that her injuries weren't too serious. He couldn't stand the thought of losing another teammate. No Anko surely wouldn't die just because of some broken ribs and from loss of blood. This didn't sound convincing but at least he knew that Anko was way too stubborn to simply die here. He sat down besides her listening to her labored breathing. It was his fault that she was in this condition. She had saved him… just like Obito had. Was she going to die like Obito, too? It couldn't be. He wouldn't allow it! It couldn't possibly be that all those who even only once protected him were destined to die. Life was unfair. Everyone close to him sooner or later died right in front of his eyes: his father, Obito, Rin… It was kind of ironic. He had promised that he would protect Rin but in the end he not only failed with keeping that promise – Rin even died because of him.

They had been fighting in a major battle back then. Leaf versus Stone. At the end of the day the battlefield had been nothing a bloody swamp. Konoha had been the winner (if you could say that under such circumstances). They had lost for too many shinobi in this battle. Rin being one of the few medic-nins had been very busy so that she and Kakashi had been separated during the fighting. At the end of the battle he had been lying somewhere in this bloody swamp mortally wounded and at the edge of dieing. He really had thought that when the day was over his life was as well. But then Rin had found him. She had said something but at this point Kakashi already had lost too much blood to understand her words. He only had felt her tears falling on his face. And he had seen the white lines that they had left in her blood-covered face. He had closed his eyes then; not because he had wanted to but because he hadn't had the strength left to keep them open any longer. He really had expected to die there but the time he had almost reached the other side he had felt a warm, comforting energy flowing through his body. He had known this feeling very well – it always meant that someone was healing you. Somehow he had managed to open one eye again. Rin had been healing him. Her hands had already been shaking but nevertheless she had kept healing him. But the wound in his stomach hadn't stopped bleeding. Rin had sent that much Chakra through her hands they had started bleeding. Eventually she had been able to close his wound. Kakashi had been saved but with her task done Rin had broken down. That day, if not that very minute, she had died from lack of Chakra.

Xxx

Looking at Anko Kakashi clenched his fists. He was a jounin, former ANBU, but what was it good for if he couldn't even protect his comrades? He was considered a genius so why? Why did he let things like this happen? Should _he_ able to prevent them? A sound from the left teared him away from his thoughts. Anko coughed. Looking at her face he noticed that she slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused and she stayed like this for a moment but then her eyes fell on him and she sat up or at least tried to but fell backwards. Kakashi caught her and then leaned her against a tree so that she could sit. He felt unbelievable relieved that Anko had woken up again. Now he had only to get her back to the Konoha-hospital.

"How are you feeling?" He asked. Quite a stupid question because 1) she was holding her right side with one hand, which meant it definitely hurt and 2) he already knew the coming answer.

"I'm fine." She lied.

"I don't think you are. We need to return to Konoha as soon as possible so that we can get your wounds treated."

"But you've already treated them."

Kakashi rolled with his eyes. "That was merely first aid you need a proper treatment." He stated. Anko looked at him with a just too stubborn expression. He instinctively knew that arguing was useless. He could only drag her back to Konoha and probably worsen her injuries (or get injured himself) _or_ he could give in and make sure that nothing would happen to her during this mission.

"Fine, fine." He chose the second. "But before we continue we'll rest here for a while."

She nodded slightly smiling. Scratching his head he muttered. "You're too stubborn for your own good."

"You aren't better either…" Came the sly reply.

Xxx

They had been resting there for quite a while but neither of them said a single word. Kakashi seemed to be lost in his thoughts and Anko concentrated on breathing. As long as it was possible Anko tried to take shallow breaths because with that the pain in her right side had eased although it didn't go away completely. Somehow she felt thirsty and so Anko wanted to take her water bottle but it turned out to be quite difficult because the water bottle was on her right side and so she couldn't get it without sending a new wave of pain through her body. Noticing Anko's futile attempts Kakashi simply took the bottle, opened t and then held it up to her mouth so that she could drink. "I can drink by myself." She muttered and took it with her left hand feeling a bit uncomfortable about the fact that he was actually looking after her. But nevertheless she mumbled a 'Thanks' before drinking. Looking at the copy-ninja reminded her that she still wanted to know something.

"May I ask you something?" She questioned.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Sure. What?"

She first hesitated but then asked. "Why did this Iwa-nin mistake you for the White Fang? I mean – I mean you can't be the White Fang. I heard he is dead…"

Kakashi looked down on his hands. "Yeah that's true…" Anko felt like she shouldn't have asked that question. The silver-haired jounin looked at her again. "The 'White Fang' as he had been called was my father. I guess there's a resemblance between us." He looked up to the already setting sun, which was dying the whole sky in a deep red color. Kakashi stood up. Although he was wearing a mask Anko could still see the somehow that expression on his face. "I think we should go and look for a nice place where we can rest for the night." He said. Standing up as well Anko followed him. She wanted to apologize for her question but right when she opened her mouth she had to cough. Almost reflexive she put her hand in front of her mouth. She felt something warm in her hand and seeing this red liquid she realized that she had just coughed blood. This surely wasn't good but being Anko she decided to ignore it and simply followed Kakashi.

TBC

A/N: So this chappy is done as well. And being the evil me I decided not to continue writing before I haven't got at least… 5 reviews. Hey only five tiny reviews :D So why don't you click this sweet purple button to the left :D ?

Thanks to Akanan and fire.elve for reviewing.

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Hi!

I'm really sorry for not updating faster. I somehow got lost on the road of life :D

Chapter six

Kakashi and Anko walked through the forest. They were quite slow but considering Anko's condition Kakashi didn't want to move on faster. Also because of that he soon picked out a place where they set up a camp for the night between the over ground roots of a huge and seemingly old tree. During their evening meal Kakashi tried to convince Anko to eat at least a little bit but she was stubborn once again and insisted that she wasn't feeling hungry. She didn't even want to eat something sweet. He wondered why he had to team up with such a stubborn person. Although the truth was that he didn't really mind her being stubborn he was more worried. So after he had eaten something and had prepared some traps so that no one could approach them unnoticed they both went to sleep.

Xxx

A horrible storm was raging in Konoha. It was already night when the seven-year-old Kakashi came finally home from a long mission. He had been wet when he had entered Konoha and he was soaking when he arrived at his and his father's house. The boy stopped in their hall and tried to get the water out of his clothes. Suddenly he noticed what he had missed before: the lights were off. It wasn't that late that his dad would be asleep. He also couldn't have left on a mission. The last time Kakashi had seen him he had been in no condition for something like that.

A lump started forming in his throat. He shook his head. Maybe he had finally started feeling better. Maybe he had eventually found his way out of the depressions. Kakashi desperately wanted to believe that but still panic rose in his chest. His heart knew it better. Not even thinking of his wet clothes anymore Kakashi ran through their house calling his father. "Dad?" He didn't receive an answer instead his nose picked up the scent of blood. He really hoped from the bottom of his heart that his dad hadn't done something _final_.

His heartbeat was at its highest point when the child darted into the room where the smell came from. And there it stopped as Kakashi saw it. Sakumo was lying there in a pool of his own blood with his sword nearby. "DAD!" Kakashi called out racing to his father's side where he fell down on his knees not caring the slightest bit that he was now blood-covered as well. He could here his father's faint heartbeat. The boy looked into Sakumo's eyes. It was as if the last words his father had wanted to tell him were written in there. 'Forgive me' Then his eyes became as his soul left his body and his son behind.

The heartbeat had stopped. Kakashi blinked the tears away and lightly shook his dad in a sort of last desperate attempt. "Come on dad, this isn't funny you know. So stop pretending okay?" His voice barely above a whisper. The reaction he waited for never came. "Please dad, stand up." Kakashi begged with tears running down over his cheeks. It couldn't be that the White Fang was dead. Although being young the boy was already a ninja, so he knew if someone was dead and his father definitely wasn't. No way that he could be- could have died. It was just impossible! Tears started to fall harder as he clenched his father's blood stained shirt crying himself to sleep.

Xxx

Kakashi opened one eye and looked up to the night sky. If his tears hadn't dried out long ago h might have cried because of that memory. But shinobis don't cry. He still remembered it perfectly. The scent of the blood that had been splattered over the ground. The way his father's body ad cooled down while he had been crying there. He even vaguely remembered that someone had picked him up the next morning carrying him away although Kakashi had desperately struggled since he hadn't wanted to leave his father's side. Sighing softly he closed his eyes again falling asleep only a minute later.

At this point Anko was awake, too, but opposite to the copy-ninja she hadn't woken up because of a dream – she couldn't sleep in first place. She didn't notice that Kakashi had had a nightmare since his dreams were just as disguised as his face was and he hadn't even made the slightest sound. Except form his breathing. Speaking of breathing: this was the reason why Anko wasn't sleeping. She felt like she would suffocate for sure as soon as she had fallen asleep. She had even tried to sleep on her right side so that she could breathe easier but it hurt like hell. Sure if she made it hurt a little more she would faint and the problem was solved but somehow she didn't feel like fainting. Frustrated she sat up. With the result that she had to cough blood again. But at least she could now breathe a lot easier. In order to maintain this she leaned against the tree where she rested over the night.

Xxx

Anko woke up when someone silently called out her name. She hadn't even noticed that she had fallen asleep but from somewhere after she had leaned against the tree to now there was a gap so there was no mistaking it. Still feeling sleepy she slightly opened he eyes just to see her silver-haired teammate in front of her. Anko opened her mouth wanting to ask him why he woke her but before she could he placed one finger on her lips and whispered. "There are enemies coming. We should leave immediately." She nodded and stood up. With the result that she had to lean against the tree to avoid falling down. For some strange reason her body felt kinda heavy. Where did this come from?

Sighing almost inaudible Kakashi picked her up and hastily hid in the crown of a nearby tree where he put her down again. Just in time – not even a minute later the two Iwa-nins arrived where they just had been standing. And as if this wasn't enough they seemed to be searching for them. Anko and Kakashi both held their breaths until the Iwas were almost out of sight. But matching to their luck Anko suddenly felt the urge to cough. She tried her bets not do – in vain. She couldn't help but cough. Immediately she put one hand over her mouth to stifle it but even so it was too late. The Iwas had already found them.

Only a heartbeat later kunais flew towards the two jounins and Anko more fell than jumped from the tree landing on her feet like a cat and already taking out one of her own kunais she dodged the Iwas next attack while leaving a deep cut in his leg with her knife. Falling her enemy created a stone club and hit Anko hard in her already wounded right side. She flew some meters but instantly struggled to her feet again and performed the Gokakyuu-no-jutsu burning the Iwa alive. From behind she heard something like a splash followed by the sound of something or someone hitting the ground. Then Kakashi was next to her.

Again he looked at her with those eyes. As if she could break down at any second. This time however he wasn't that wrong. Anko felt like there was a heavy stone on her chest so that she could barely breathe. And as if this wasn't enough she had to cough blood. She again tried not to because Kakashi was next to her but that was only wasted energy. And just to make it worse it was a lot more blood than the previous times. Weakened and still coughing the kunoichi fell down on her knees. After a while she was able to take some breaths though her body was still shaking.

Kakashi laid one arm around her shoulder and she allowed him to. Anko was in no condition to pull away from him anyway. As soon as she was back to normal, which meant there was only a dull pain in her right side instead of a burning one, she struggled to her feet once more.

"Are you okay?" Kakashi asked. Anko nodded. "I think we should get you the Konoha hospi –" He said but Anko cut him off.

"After we've finished this mission."

"No, I'll take care of this mission while you get your wounds treated. I'm a former ANBU, I can handle this by myself so it's okay if you go back." He looked at her – worried? He already said it himself: he was capable of this mission alone so why should he be worried? Anko didn't know. The only thing she knew was that she never again would be left behind because she was useless and weak; she would make sure of that even if it meant risking her life.

"We either finish this mission together and afterwards I'll go back to Konoha by myself or you'll have to drag me there." She glared at him with all stubbornness that was left inside her body and sighing once again the copy-ninja gave in. He used to sigh often lately.

TBC

A/N: So another chappy is done. For today I've finished my part so now it's your turn to click this lovely button and leave a review :D

Thanks to Sayomi XD, DancingPickle101, Akanan, Arezal, ANkO KiCkS AsS! and fire.elve for reviewing!

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hi!

Sorry for not updating faster. Somehow I was lacking inspiration lately and without your wonderful reviews I would've been lacking motivation, too.

Chapter seven

Kakashi summoned Pakkun. The three were again at the entrance of Akuma's hideout and the copy-ninja was quite sure that the Iwa wasn't there anymore. So with Pakkuns nose they could find out if he had left the cave without coming back. This would not only save time also Kakashi didn't want Anko to be down there again as long as it wasn't absolutely necessary. The dog confirmed his suspicion: Had left heading eastwards. With the ninken the two jounins chased after Akuma until they reached a rocky area pretty close to the border of Iwagakure where they found him. Because there was no place to hide in this area they chose the direct way. And the Iwa being the arrogant bastard that he was didn't even make the slightest attempt to avoid a confrontation with the two jounins standing in his way; instead he threw stone-kunais at them as soon as he was close enough.

Dodging them Anko saw Kakashi doing the same and almost in unison both threw shuriken back at him hitting the Iwa but no damage was done because he had used a doton that had transformed his skin into stone so that even a powerful shuriken attack was nothing more but a mosquito bite. Then Akuma performed another jutsu causing a heavy earthquake. Anko almost lost her balance. From the corner of her eye she saw her teammate throwing a kunai with an explosive tag pinned to it at the enemy who disappeared in the following explosion. But where was he? A breath of wind told Anko that he was right behind her so she whirled around throwing a kunai and at the same time leaping backwards to increase the distance between them but in midair she just had enough time to see that he had opened a small bottle with a violet liquid in it, which came flying towards her with no way of dodging it, before mentioned liquid directly hit her eyes, blinding her.

She blinked several times but her vision stayed blurred. She clearly felt his intent of killing as he heard him running towards her. Stupid situation she thought prepared for the unpleasant experience of how it felt if there was a kunai slicing through you but instead there was another, this time warm, liquid that hit her face. She blinked again trying to see what was happening and when her vision became a bit clearer she recognized Kakashi standing in front of her with a stone blade through his shoulder and Akuma lying some meters away though he already struggled to his feet.

With a quick movement the copy-ninja jerked the sword out of him and looking back to Anko he said "If you can hold him with your snakes for a minute or two then I should be able to kill with my Chidori. Do you think we can do that?" Anko nodded and immediately ran towards the Iwa dodging his attacks and then performing the Hidden-Shadow-Snake-Hands capturing him. From behind she heard the noise of thousands birds, which meant that Kakashi was already preparing his move. She only hoped that he would hurry because she was already out of breath and the air around her seemed kinda thin, thinner than it should be. Or was it her imagination? Suddenly there was a lightning first next to her and not even a heartbeat later it was inside the Iwa who had stopped struggling just as sudden. Then he was dead.

Kakashi summoned his pack of ninken. They could take care of the dead body while he could take care of Anko. He definitely didn't like the sound of her breathing; it appeared to be somehow… whistling. Plus she was still constantly blinking because of whatever this violet thing had been she had gotten into her eyes. He should wash it out of her eyes. Kakashi stopped next to her telling her to look up and stand still. Then he carefully let water from his water bottle flow over her eyes and over the rest of her face. Thus he cleaned the blood away, too. Then with this done he wanted to get back to Konoha as fast as possible since now they both were in need of medical treatment and sitting around with a bleeding hole in his shoulder could always prove to be a bad idea.

So they both started running back but after some time Anko first got slower and then stopped completely shortly before falling down. Within a second Kakashi was at her side. She had started coughing once again and blood was already covering the ground and her palms. She looked awfully pale. When she had stopped coughing blood Kakashi didn't wait for her usual reaction (pretending to be alright) and picked her up, carrying her back. Too weak to struggle Anko just let him and eventually fainted not much later.

Kakashi felt that his heartbeat was faster than it just would've been because of running. He was really worried. Somehow, somewhere he had gotten used to the presence of the stubborn kunoichi. He had noticed Anko every time she had watched on those rainy days. He could have talked to her, joined her on her walk or at least let her know that he acknowledged her presence but he never did. Why? Maybe because he didn't want anyone to be close to him again. Everyone he ever really cared for soon died so he preferred not letting anyone be close to instead of going through the loss of someone precious again. But he realized that it was already too late for something like that: He already cared for Anko much more than he thought he could ever. Another reason why he would make sure that she wouldn't die.

Xxx

Anko found herself lying somewhere surrounded by comfortable warmth. She knew that she was awake but still she didn't want to open her eyes. It had been the first time after far too many nights she had been able to sleep peacefully and somehow she wanted to hold on to it just a little longer. She felt the sun on her face. Slowly and still feeling sleepy she opened one eye. White blankets, white curtains, everything white – this could only mean that she was in the Konoha hospital though she couldn't remember getting here… Wait, she remembered passing out on the way back so that meant – Kakashi must have carried her back. Where was he? Images of the vents came floating back to her mind. The jounin had received a not minor injury when he had protected her so he might be here as well. But not in this room. This room was empty.

She looked to the left. And found sweets and some flowers on a little bedside table. Kurenai must have been here. A click told her that the door had opened; since she was lying at the window side she couldn't see the door. Shizune stepped into her sight. Seeing Anko she smiled.

"Finally awake again?" She asked although it was more a statement than a question.

If Anko hadn't been so awfully tired she might have wondered about 'finally' but so she just nodded.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Okay." Anko mumbled.

"Everyone will surely be relieved to her that you've woken up again since you've almost slept for a week." Shizune continued. "Especially Kakashi… The way he glared at us medics while we were treating you. We had to shove him out of the room in order to concentrate." She said with a giggle before she grew serious. "But you should really be more carefully next time. If the rock had hit you only a bit different you would've died from the blood in your lungs before even thinking of returning to Konoha."

Anko smiled apologetically.

"Anyway you should take this medicine although it might make you feel a bit tired." She handed her a small pill and waited until Anko had swallowed it before she left to visit her other patients.

Anko closed her eyes again. After some minutes she felt that someone just had slipped into the room but not through the door. Through the open window.

"Kakashi what are you doing here?" she asked her eyes still closed.

"Well I was hanging around here and when I heard that you were awake I decided to pay a visit."

The kunoichi opened her eyes again. "Shizune left only a minute ago so how do you know?"

A mischievous grin spread over Kakashi's face. "Maybe I'm a fortuneteller."

Anko threw her pillow at the copy-ninja growling "Stupid".

Smirking Kakashi caught it. "So are you now planning to sleep without your pillow?" He asked, his tone teasing. Anko just stuck her tongue out of her mouth.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile at her childish reaction and gave her the pillow back before he sat down at the end of her bed.

"So how do you feel now?" He asked although he already knew the answer. Maybe because he eavesdropped to the conservation of her and Shizune.

"I'm fine." She said with a stifled yawn.

Kakashi sighed. "You always say that even if you know that it's a lie."

"I don't lie…" She muttered. Somehow he thought he had heard an 'often'.

"Then why did you still insist that you were feeling alright even after coughing blood in Grass Country?"

"That was merely a different interpretation of 'feeling alright'."

Still too stubborn to admit it Kakashi thought with a slight smile. He knew there was a reason for Anko to be like this. Most likely she had already been stubborn as a baby but even for a stubborn person she was too stubborn. He wasn't quite sure about it but he had an idea why Anko wouldn't admit that she wasn't in any condition for a mission.

"And why didn't you agree to go back to Konoha earlier?" He questioned.

Finding the ceiling more interesting Anko didn't answer.

"Was it because you didn't want to be left behind?"

Still no answer but she clutched her blanket. So he was right.

"Anko, going back to Konoha because of an injury isn't the same thing as…"

He didn't know how to say it even though he had started to understand the way she thought. The copy-ninja was sure that it had something to do Orochimaru, after all he – as her (former) sensei – had just abandoned her, casting her off like trash. But it still might prove to say it the direct way.

"…as being abandoned. You can be sure that no one of us will ever do that."

She looked away obviously not fully believing what he was saying. Kakashi felt like he was talking to a wall. To a very stubborn wall.

"Why don't you trust me?"

"I dunno…" She muttered in response still looking at anything except Kakashi.

"You should really try to trust people again; otherwise you will end up all alone."

She glanced at him saying in an almost inaudible voice "You shouldn't say things like that even though they might be true but also you don't have any close friends do you? Sure you get well along with everyone but still the same thing you just told me goes for you, too."

The silver-haired jounin was surprised by that comment. He hadn't expected someone to see through him ever since the last one important to him had died. Maybe it was worth one more try.

"I guess you're right." He said with a smile. "And since we both have the same problem maybe we could start trusting each other."

Now Anko eventually looked at him although she still seemed to be a bit unsure her typical grin spread over her face.

"Maybe we can…"

Then finally the medicine Shizune gave her started working and after blinking a few times Anko fell asleep.

TBC

A/N:

So, I hope you guys weren't thinking this would end her – NO I'm far too evil for that… **eg**

There are still at least two chappies left though I don't feel motivated enough to write them…

Anyway please leave a review so that I know that you're not ignoring me :D

Thanks to DancingPickle101, Akanan and Sayomi XD for reviewing!

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hi!

Sorry that it took me so long for updating. I honestly don't know why it took me so much time to write this.

Chapter eight

Anko found herself back in Grass Country. Although the landscape ad changed it was definitely the place where she had been – what was it, a week? – a week ago. In front of her there was a smaller, maybe ten-year-old Anko standing. A small allusion that she was just dreaming. Her smaller version had the back to her and now she went into the cave. Anko followed her. The two went deeper and deeper down into the lingering darkness until they reached a dead end. Anko wondered whether she (the smaller she) knew where she was going. But the little Anko knew it because she knelt down, moved some stones and suddenly, with a dull rumbling, the stonewall in front of them slipped to the side revealing another yet again secret part of the cave. Her smaller version went into that new room and the older one followed her but froze right in her movement when she saw a shadow that looked pretty much like Orochimaru, lurking in a corner. Anko blinked. Maybe it was just a normal shadow. It became pretty cold in that cave. And an icy wind was blowing. Wait, wind – inside a cave? When the wind blew straight into her face she closed her eyes and then blinked, as the dark cave wasn't that dark anymore, in fact it turned out to be a rather white hospital room.

Anko shivered. Looking to the right she immediately knew why: the night had already fallen but the window was still open. Quickly she jumped out of her bed and went over to the window closing it. Then she turned around to go back but stopped. She just realized that Kakashi was still sitting in a chair next to her bed, sleeping, with his book still lying on his lap. Smiling she took a blanket from an empty bed and carefully laid it around him without waking her teammate. Then she climbed back into her bed falling asleep only a moment later.

Xxx

When she woke up the next morning Kakashi was gone, the blanket lying neatly folded on the chair. She stretched yawning before jumping out of the bed and getting dressed. Surely the nurses wouldn't be happy that Anko got up already but she never really had cared about things like that and since she was feeling all right anyway there was no reason for her to stay in bed. Also she had a strange feeling about the dream so she wanted to check whether it really just had been a dream or whether it had been a memory. Not bothering to leave a message that she was gone the special-jounin left immediately heading for Tsunade's office. Anko curtly knocked at the door before entering.

Godaime was currently doing some paperwork – most likely because Shizune, who was standing behind her, had forced her to. The Hokage looked up frowning.

"I thought you would be staying in the hospital for some more days, Anko." Godaime stated.

"Well I can't stay long on one place..." Anko answered with a sheepish smile.

"But you came for another reason, didn't you?" Tsunade asked folding her hands.

"Actually yes, I came here to ask for permission to go back to Akuma's hideout once more."

"There had already been an ANBU-squad investigating this so why would you want to go there?"

Anko scratched her head. "I've just remembered something but I'm not quite sure about it so I would like to go and check it."

Godaime sighed. "Fine, but I won't let you go alone and you'll inform me of whatever you've found out as soon as you're back, understood?"

Anko nodded.

"So with whom do you want to go?"

A surprising question coming from Tsunade and Anko was even more surprised when she heard herself answering.

"Kakashi."

Never thought she would ever ask to be teamed up with that pervert… although he was just reading perverted books and not doing things like Jiraiya so he wasn't a _real_ pervert. Wait, what was she thinking? Hastily she thanked Godaime and left to look for her teammate.

He wasn't in his apartment. He was neither in the hospital nor at the bridge. Actually he was nowhere to be found. But then an idea came to her mind. Quickly she changed the direction and jumped over the roofs heading for a certain place. She had been right. There he was standing at the memorial stone. It was kinda funny. She was standing right where she had always been standing when she had watched him on those rainy days but today – although the sky was cloudy – it wasn't raining. Anko hesitated. She knew that she just had to go over to Kakashi, tell him of their new mission – but still she couldn't. Pretty stupid.

Why was it that she couldn't go? She shook her head. There was no reason. Shaking her head again slightly she slowly went to Kakashi stopping next to the copy-ninja.

"Already out of the hospital?" He asked turning his head into her direction.

Anko nodded.

"Well that's good to hear." Kakashi smiled warmly at her and although it was still somehow sad it was at least a real smile.

"This place is kinda depressing." He said with a shrug. "Shall we go and eat breakfast together, my treat?" He asked and Anko happily accepted his offer. They went to the Ichiraku because Kakashi didn't like sweets and Anko didn't like bitter or spicy foods. After they both got their bowls Anko took two chopsticks and started eating. The next time she glanced at Kakashi he was already done eating, his mask hiding the lower half of his face. Anko wondered whether he had been born with that mask. But before asking him that question she remembered that she still had to tell him something.

"Kakashi?"

He looked up. Anko started fumbling with her chopsticks unsure of how to say it. She just hoped that he would never find out that she had wanted to be teamed up with him.

"You know I've talked to Tsunade-sama… so that I – we – could go back to Grass Country because -" Anko stopped when Kakashi suddenly laid a finger on her lips saying

"You should eat your soup before it's cold. We'll have enough time for the details later, won't we?" Anko nodded and concentrated on her ramen to ignore the fact that she was blushed.

Xxx

About two hours later Anko was ready to leave and because she didn't want to leave for another two hours she went straight to Kakashi's apartment. Ignoring the existence of doors - just like Kakashi always did - she jumped through an open window. The room was slightly messy but not as bad as she had expected. "Hey Kakashi!" She called out but received no answer. She looked around in the room and just then her eyes fell on a blade that was lying on top of a small cupboard. It was white and there were no traces of blood on it. Though it had to be old it looked as good as new. There was only one thing wrong about it: it was broken. Anko wondered why Kakashi would keep a broken blade… Maybe it was important to him.

"Hey." The kunoichi almost jumped hearing Kakashi's voice right behind her. Realizing that he had startled her, the copy-ninja smiled sheepishly, scratching his head. "Sorry." He said and then added smirking. "Though I never really expected to catch you off-guard." Anko stuck her tongue out at Kakashi before smirking back. Then she turned back to the blade.

"Why do you keep it?" She asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "I guess because it's a memento of my father." A sad expression appeared on his face but immediately vanished so that Anko wasn't sure whether it really had been there. She looked back at the blade.

"It's broken…" she stated. "But not beyond repair – why don't you get it fixed?"

Kakashi sighed, not annoyed or irritated or whatever, he just sighed. "Well it wouldn't be the same blade afterwards. I know this sounds odd…" Anko shook her head. For some strange reason she totally understood what he meant. Drawing her attention away from the blade to what she originally had come for she questioned.

"Shall we go then?" Kakashi nodded. Soon they had left Konoha. This time however they were faster than before and in time they arrived at the cave in Grass Country.

TBC

A/N: So one chappy left. But maybe I'm going to write a sequel…

Anyway please review :D

Thanks to no name, samurikirby, fire.elve, ViolinRiddle, Ami, pikashoe, kitsune.ayame, arezal (who is lazy :D), DancingPickle101, Sayomi XD and Akanan for reviewing!

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey I'm back!

I guess you're angry because I let you wait so long? (sees readers with various pointy objects) I'll take this as a 'yes'. But I have an excuse: school started again and now I don't have the time to write (hey I'm working almost as long as my parents do!). Sorry :D

Chapter nine

The two shinobi were inside the dark cave again. Anko had led them to the supposed dead end. Up to this point Anko had been rather confident about what she was doing but now there was this doubtful voice in the back of her mind. What if she was mistaken? What if it really had been nothing but a dream? And though Kakashi hadn't questioned her once ever since they had left Konoha she was worried about his reaction. He had become someone she trusted and in exchange he trusted her so she didn't want to let him down. She didn't want to tell him that she had been wrong. Usually she acted (over)confident but usually she didn't feel like that inside. Another reason why she kept a certain distance to other people. However there was only one way to find out whether she had been right or wrong.

She knelt down searching on the left side for a switch or something similar. It would've been useful to know what exactly she was looking for. The dim light and the dull pain coming from her juin didn't help either. But at least Kakashi was kneeling besides her and standing behind just looking over her shoulder – people standing behind always made Anko feel nervous.

After only some minutes of searching she found what she had been more or less looking for: a button. Once she had pressed it the wall parted. Smiling triumphantly Anko went ahead, Kakashi right behind her. But then she had to stop as the pain caused by her juin suddenly increased. Clenching her teeth she ignored it and stepped aside letting the copy-ninja in. He shot her a questioning look but she ignored that too and looked around in the room instead. It was a huge laboratory but opposite to the rooms where they were before this one looked like it was still being used.

Kakashi scanned the big room. Putting the equipment and other things they've seen before aside there wasn't anything interesting here – except for the stairs. Though it might be wrong to call them 'stairs' because it looked more like here and there parts of the rock were coincidentally missing. However. Kakashi made a silent gesture towards fore mentioned stairs, Anko immediately understood and so the two jounins went downstairs where they came into a big hall. It looked almost exactly like the hall where they had encountered Akuma: dark, with many useless rocks and some torches and water flowing down the walls. Whoever had built this wicked place was definitely lacking fantasy. Besides someone's lack of creativity Kakashi quickly remembered that they had still more important things waiting as Anko whispered

"We have to let Hokage-sama know about this." The copy-ninja had already opened his mouth when someone answered in his place.

"I'm sorry but that I can't allow that." He didn't sound sorry at all. Almost out of reflex the two leaf-nins turned to face the intruder.

Kakashi knew the owner of this voice very well and so did Anko.

"Orochimaru." Anko whispered.

If the situation would've been different Kakashi might have wondered if this really had been Anko's voice. It sounded so venomous that anyone with a bit sanity left would've backed away. But besides her voice Kakashi could swear that Anko was trembling – then again maybe it was just his imagination. The sannin stepped closer and the expression on his face reminded of a snake looking at two rabbits. From the corner of his eye Kakashi saw Anko holding her neck breathing unsteady. 'Must be the cursed seal' he thought.

Unfortunately the traitor had noticed the same. "My, my is the juin still hurting?" Orochimaru asked mockingly. As if the bastard didn't know. "Too bad I don't have the time to play with you – someone else will make sure you don't leave my little cave _alive_." With that he laughed and disappeared. Something in the back of his mind informed Kakashi that Anko just had fallen down on her knees when suddenly a huge noise arose. It sounded like stone grinding against stone. The echo made it impossible to detect where exactly the sound came from and because of the damn chemical stench here he still couldn't smell anything so he removed his forehead-protector, uncovering his Sharingan, and glanced around slightly nervous. And just on cue there was a rockfall right above them – to say that he disliked rockfalls would be the understatement of the year.

However his body was faster than his brain so he immediately jumped to the side, grabbed the kneeling Anko and leaped away just in time because if he had reacted only a moment later the two of them would've been squashed to death. But as the result of the attack they had now a new problem – actually two. First the exit was blocked and second there was at least one enemy waiting for his opportunity to kill them.

So as the situation was they would've to take care of the enemy first. Why did they always end up stuck in a life-or-death situation? This was supposed to be easy! Well at least he wasn't alone. So the copy-ninja stood up, pulled Anko to her feet and scanned the whole area. He detected the enemy with ease: another Iwa-nin with short black hair; he looked somehow like a bulldog.

Not wasting any time Kakashi took out three kunais and threw them all at once at the enemy but the Iwa didn't make the slightest effort to dodge them and soon the copy-ninja found out why: he had transformed his body into stone. Obviously a bloodline limit.

Suddenly there was a giant darting flame next to Kakashi was the intention of roasting the Iwa. 'Looks like Anko has joined the action' he thought with a smirk. But then his smirk disappeared as he noticed that the Iwa was gone as well. The attack didn't hit. Out of nowhere his instincts yelled at him to get the hell away and before he even realized it he had leaped away. Turning his head he saw the Iwa hitting the ground where just a moment ago two leaf-nins had been standing. The enemy growled frustrated. Now that made Kakashi's smirk return.

But still they had the problem of how defeating someone who was able to transform his skin into stone if he wanted to. They could only hit him if he didn't expect the attack. A plan came to his mind. He didn't really like it but it could work. Jumping over to Anko he told her of his plan. At first she looked at him as if he had lost his mind – and maybe he had – because after all he wasn't the one with the big problem should the plan fail. But then she agreed trusting him and his abilities.

With a last nod to Anko the copy-ninja jumped to right the corner where he used a Suiton causing a giant wave. As the result the hall was now pitch black because all the torches had gone out. Kakashi closed his Sharingan because in the darkness it was only wasting Chakra. "Hey Kakashi are you stupid! Now we can't see anything!" Good Anko remembered the plan. He could hear her breathing so he knew where she was and as long as she didn't move the plan would work because eventually the Iwa would fall for their trap and when he tried to attack Anko Kakashi make his move. Since Kakashi was a former ANBU it was easy for him to move without making any noise.

Soon he heard the faint sound of footsteps on the wet ground. It was about time. The Iwa was moving and not suspecting that Kakashi was already lurking on a rock near Anko – it was obvious that the Iwa assumed that Kakashi was still in the right corner. Kakashi just hoped that he had memorized the surroundings correctly - though he was pretty sure of that - and if he had the Iwa was almost certainly dead. The copy-ninja held his breath, felt the weird sensation that always appeared before killing and with a kunai in his hand and every muscle inside his body tense he leaped forwards.

A warm liquid running over hands as well a gurgling, surprised scream as proof that he had succeeded. He had hit the Iwa who was currently heading for the light at the end of the tunnel. "Okay." He more breathed than said. When the weird sensation was gone he always felt empty inside. Still Anko had heard because she lit a torch. Just for sure Kakashi felt the Iwa's pulse and he was definitely dead.

"Alright, I guess we can leave now." The copy-ninja said. Anko nodded.

"Oh Kakashi!"

"Hn?"

"Don't ask me to play the decoy ever again!" Anko said grinning before she smacked him playfully on the head. Kakashi silently chuckled.

TBC

A/N: So I know I said that this would be the last chapter but instead of writing one long I decided to write two short chappies. But don't worry I'll update the last chapter in only a few hours.

So again thanks to ViolinRiddle, Emi Kaisaken, DancingPickle101, random gaara fan, kitsune.ayame, AlwayzBored, samurikirby, JBL, zoielark and fire.elve for reviewing.

**disappears in a poof of smoke**


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I'm back with the last chappy :D Here we go

Chapter ten

The two jounin were on their way out of the cave. Kakashi was pretty sure that without a really good reason he would never go into any cave again. It was about time that they left this damn cave. He noticed that Anko was again slower than usual. It looked like the stress was finally taking its toll and about all the juin must be a great burden. It made him feel sorry… Maybe he could help her – after all he was an expert for seals. The problem was just that she was a woman and to perform the 'Evil Sealing Method'…

Anko realized that her vision became blurry. The damn juin was hurting again. During the fight the pain had been bearable – thanks to the adrenalin. But now it was increasing so when she wasn't careful she stumbled. Her reflexes abandoned her. However her teammate didn't so he caught her and picked her up and carried her. Though Anko struggled telling him to put her down again but Kakashi just shrugged nonchalantly and ignored it. Sighing Anko gave up - it wasn't that bad anyway. Especially since she doubted that she would be able to walk in a straight line right now. Deciding against staying awake to feel the pain longer she allowed herself to faint with one last glance at her teammate.

Xxx

When she woke up again she found herself leaning against a tree. Kakashi was sitting nearby. Seeing that she was awake he smiled though he seemed to be somehow – she wasn't sure – flustered?

"Uhm…" He started and continued with an "Erm…"

Anko sighed. "Say it already." She demanded impatiently.

"Well, erm, I guess your juin isn't hurting anymore?"

Anko stared at him for a moment – it was right her seal wasn't hurting anymore but how could he know? Shrugging inwardly she nodded.

"Well you know…" Kakashi said as he stood up and started to move away. "I-sealed-your-juin-and-now-I'm-going-to-scout-this-area." He said it in one breath and was gone before Anko could grasp what he had said. 'Kakashi's acting weird' she thought but he had said that he sealed her juin, right? So that was good, wasn't it? Anko just tried to remember how this sealing thing was done…

Xxx

The copy-ninja stopped in the crown of a nearby tree and secretly watched Anko. If she knew how sealing arts worked he would know it in a few seconds and in that case he would be so dead if she found him. So he waited and waited and when he was sure that she didn't know about what exactly he had done he came back. Somehow he had a bad conscience.

"Hey Kakashi! You're really slow you know that? We should've left years ago!" Anko smiled broadly as she said it and motioned for him to hurry up. He thought that she looked kinda cute when she was smiling. The next thought was that he should hurry before Anko decided to go alone because he was too slow.

Xxx

Shizune was working in Tsunade's office. Mostly just sorting files. Tsunade herself wasn't there, she had left some hours previous to 'get some books'. Shizune wasn't stupid so she knew that Tsunade had left because she didn't want to do the paperwork and had decided to take a very long break instead but since there wasn't anything urgent Shizune didn't bother to go and look for the Godaime.

Suddenly someone entered the room through the window. Surprised Shizune saw Kakashi and Anko standing there looking like… they had crawled through every puddle of mud on their way back to Konoha – but it had rained not long before so this was how you looked like after traveling at high speed through the forest. Quickly the two jounins told her what had happened, that they had encountered Ororchimaru. As soon as they were finished Shizune left to get Tsunade and to send out an ANBU-squad.

So now Anko and Kakashi waited. And waited. And waited. After quite a while Anko sat down on the floor leaning against the wall. Kakashi did the same. Usually Kakashi was the one letting people wait and he started wondering what could take Shizune so long – plus he was tired enough to doze off any second.

Xxx

Shizune and Tsunade were both heading for her office. The ANBUs were sent and all preparations were done – there were only the two jounin waiting. Tsunade assumed that they had been waiting for a pretty long time by now. Opening the door the Godaime walked in as her eyes caught a movement form the left. Anko had stood up. "Hokage –sama." Tsunade nodded in greeting. Then Anko's gaze went down and for a moment an amused look crossed her face before she nudged her teammate who apparently was asleep. At first Kakashi growled something but when he had grasped the situation he stood up with a sheepish smile scratching his head.

In the following hours the Hokage made the two jounin go through every detail of their mission again. Though here and there they left something out. For example the copy-ninja didn't tell how exactly he sealed the cursed seal.

After Anko and Kakashi were _finally_ dismissed they walked together through the streets of Konoha. It was already night so there weren't many people around – in fact they were the only ones out there. Thanks to the 'interrogation' through the Godaime they were even wearier than before – if that was possible. However the two jounins were close to Kakashi's apartment.

Anko sighed. Now Kakashi was almost home and could go sleep while her apartment was still far, far away. And Kurenai's apartment wasn't close either. Anko had the feeling that she would fall asleep on the street before she reached one of them. But there was still a chance that she wouldn't have to the long way – besides falling asleep on the street.

"Hey Kakashi, let me sleep at your apartment tonight, okay?" Anko asked though her tone was somewhere between a command and a question.

"Whatever." The copy-ninja said shrugging though Anko had the feeling that he was smiling under his mask. As soon they were inside Kakashi's apartment neither Anko nor Kakashi bothered to do any thing except sleeping, _finally_.

Xxx

It was past midnight when the copy-ninja woke up again. Feeling thirsty he had no choice but to stand up and go to the kitchen to drink something. Going back to his bed he stopped at the sofa were Anko was sleeping. For some reason she reminded him of a cat, sleeping so peacefully. He noticed that her blanket was lying on the floor so he picked it up and covered her again. Maybe his hands lingered on her shoulder a little than needed before he went back to his bed. Once he was out of the room Anko smiled.

The End

A/N: So it's done. Well not really since there will be a sequel :D I guess there will be more romance in it but I'm not totally sure about that. Anyway if you have any suggestions/wishes for the sequel just tell me – I can't promise anything but I can try :D

So thanks to all my readers and reviewers! You guys rock:D

And don't forget to leave a review before you go!

**waves and disappears in a poof of smoke**


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